Chapter 6

"EDI, what's going on?" Shepard pushed past Kolyat into the corridor as sleepy crew members stumbled from their quarters half-dressed, heading toward their stations.

"I apologize, Commander," EDI's voice sounded a bit ruffled. The blaring alarms silenced. "There was a hacking attempt aimed at several processing locations."

Shepard frowned. "Hacking? Are you compromised?"

"No, Commander, I have successfully blocked the intruder."

"Then what were the klaxons for?"

EDI didn't answer right away. "I… have malfunctioned." She sounded confused.

"EDI, run a self-diagnostic, now." Shepard's stomach clenched, and he walked around the elevator shaft toward the medical bay, ignoring some of the questions aimed at his back by the crew still milling about.

Legion was on when he palmed the release to the AI core, its optical lens whirring as it focused on him.

"Legion, are the geth trying to hack the Normandy?"

Legion had agreed to stay with Shepard as a liaison of sorts, though most of the work was done silently as Legion communicated via FTL speed with geth in other parts of the galaxy. A human or even an alien would have been offended at the question—thinking that Shepard doubted their loyalty, but to Legion it was a logical conclusion based on his species' interaction with the geth heretics.

"Negative, Shepard-Commander," the geth said, cocking its tubular head. "There has been no need after our agreement to share data."

"I didn't think so," Shepard said, rubbing his face. "EDI just blocked a hacking attempt and there appears to have been a strange side-effect. Or maybe one of the attack sites worked, I don't know. All I do know is that it would take a really good hacker to give EDI pause."

"There are four probable instigators of the attack," Legion said, face plates lifting. "Previously, EDI was hacked by the Collectors, but as they are no longer a threat, that conclusion is illogical. The Creator-quarians would have the technical proficiency needed to attack a sophisticated intelligence such as EDI. The salarian Special Tasks Group has also been known to make extensive use of hacking as a means of gathering information. The hanar—"

"The hanar?" Shepard interrupted. "Seriously?"

"The hanar are not physically adept on most land-based worlds," Legion continued. "It is logical to assume they would cultivate other means of gaining an advantage for their species."

"Thanks." Shepard left the AI Core deep in thought. The hanar he dismissed—his interaction with that species had been limited, even when taking his recent trips to Kahje into account. They had no reason to target his ship. But the quarians and STG?

He supposed he'd better schedule a little chat with Tali and Mordin.

"You've been what?" Shepard stared at Mordin who was fiddling with a centrifuge.

"Feeding the STG information. Apologies. Thought you knew." Mordin blinked his bulbous eyes at Shepard, leaning over console to tap something into his keyboard. As usual, the professor was doing six other things while he held a conversation.

"How could I know that you're an STG spy?" Shepard said, leaning over the table, brow furrowed. "You told me you retired."

"Am retired. Did not lie. Also, not a spy." Mordin sniffed, looking slightly offended at the term. "STG was bound to send inquiries. Keeps tabs on former agents. Knew I was on Omega; knew I signed up with you. Fed STG information to prevent attack like the one you describe. I keep quiet, STG gets suspicious; send agent, or attempt to bribe, blackmail, or extort information another way. Cerberus crew good; handpicked; little information to work with; hard to blackmail. But everyone has a breaking point. Feeding information safest; cleanest. No classified information sent; minor notes of who, what, and when. Nothing to endanger mission or crew."

Shepard relaxed. "So you're absolutely sure STG couldn't be behind the attack?"

The centrifuge chimed. Mordin popped the hatch, beginning the delicate task of transferring some glass tubes to a wire rack. "Nothing is certain; only probable. STG interest in you and mission has lessened with Collector threat gone. Some interest in rumor of Reapers, but nothing more than 'keeping an ear to the ground' as humans say. No reason for invasive attack."

Shepard left the tech lab and almost ran into Kolyat in the CIC.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, startled.

"Nothing." Kolyat said, not looking at Shepard, his gaze wandering around the CIC with no interest.

"Aren't you helping Rupert fix the damage you caused in Life Support?"

Kolyat scowled at the metal floor. "I tried, but he said I was in the way."

"Well, don't bother the crew while you're up here. They're busy." Shepard walked over to his personal terminal. Kolyat followed.

"I'm not bothering anyone," he protested. "Joker said I could watch him."

"Then why aren't you on the bridge?" Shepard frowned at his screen. Another spam mail. He deleted it—the most advanced ship in the galaxy and he was still manually deleting trash like this? Figured.

Kolyat looked uncomfortable. "I got bored," he said, a nervous hum in his throat. "When are we going to get to the Citadel?" he said, changing the topic.

Shepard looked up from his screen. "I forgot to tell you, didn't I?" He grimaced. "That hack attack drove it from my mind. We're making a stop at Omega to pick up an asari justicar that used to be on my squad."

"Why?"

"That's classified, kiddo." Shepard opened another email. Kaidan had written to tell him that Anderson was not pleased with him needing a couple of weeks to get things in order and advised not making Councilor Tevos wait. Terrific.

"I'm not a kid," Kolyat grumbled.

"Well you're sure not acting like an adult," Shepard said, irritation from the email bleeding over.

"What the hell do you care?" Kolyat snapped, loud enough that a few heads turned in their direction. "You'll drop me off to Captain Bailey and never have to see me again." He turned and entered the elevator, his blue-green face a mask of hurt anger.

Shepard blew out a breath. He could have handled that better.

"Commander?" Kelly's green eyes peeped at him from across the galaxy map.

"Yeah?" Shepard stabbed the "delete" button a little harder than necessary on a couple other spam mails.

"I haven't had a chance to talk with Kolyat one on one, but I'm afraid that he may be suffering from abandonment issues."

Shepard looked up at her, curious. "Abandonment?"

"It's not surprising considering his history with his father, and given that his perfect memories will always remind him of the times his father was absent, it may be severe. In time, his issues might have been solved with his father present. But now that Thane has died..."

He crossed his arms. "What are we talking about here?"

Kelly clasped her hands in front of her. "Alienation from his environment, withdrawal from social activities, uncertainty, sleep disruption, nightmares, and resulting fatigue; depression, anger, grief—"

"Okay, I get the idea." Shepard raised a hand in the middle of the flow of words. "What do you suggest? Should I get him to talk to a therapist once we get to the Citadel?"

"It might help," Kelly conceded, "but now that you're his primary caregiver, you'll probably have to prove that you won't abandon him either."

Shepard grimaced. "I don't know, Kelly. Maybe I shouldn't be the one to… to take Thane's place. I'm not a father—I didn't exactly have a stellar model for a dad; I don't know the first thing about kids, let alone alien kids."

Kelly reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. "Shepard, I've never been a father, and probably never will be—unless I hook up with an asari I guess," she amended with one of her wide-eyed serious looks that made him want to grin, "but I know you and I can tell that you'll be a great father." She withdrew her hand. "Perhaps it might help to not think of yourself as a father—you may be adding unnecessary mental stress to your task. Kolyat doesn't want you to replace Thane, but he does need someone to be there for him."

The elevator chimed behind him, and Tali stepped out. "You wanted to see me, Shepard?" Her purple helmet glinted in the bright light of the CIC.

"Thanks Kelly," Shepard said. "I'll… keep what you said in mind."

"Anytime, Commander!" the redhead chirruped.

Shepard turned and gestured for the quarian woman to follow him to the armory. "Thanks for coming up, Tali. Jacob's eating lunch, so the armory should give us a little privacy."

Tali stopped in her tracks and folded her arms across her chest. "This isn't about Kal'Reegar again, is it? Joker gave me a hard enough time as it is—"

Shepard laughed. "No, no. It's about the recent attempt to hack EDI."

"Oh."

"Then I want to talk about Reegar—"

"Shepard, I'm warning you…"

"The fact that you're not brushing off my concerns is worrisome, Tali," Shepard said a few minutes later, leaning back against one of the tables in the armory.

Tali was disassembling a shotgun on the workbench, her three-fingered hands working with more dexterity than they appeared to have at first glance. "That's because a quarian hack-attempt isn't something to dismiss lightly, Shepard," her filtered voice sounded thoughtful. "Before you rescued me from Haestrom, I might have said 'no,' but after learning what Admiral Xen hopes to accomplish…" Tali shook her head. "I wouldn't put it past her to attempt something like this in an effort to glean more information about the geth. She may have even discovered Legion's existence."

Shepard frowned. "Have you been able to keep tabs on her while you're here?"

"Not as much as I'd like, but it's clear that Gerral and Koris are hoping that I'll take my father's place on the Admiralty Board. Politically, it's a good move for them, because by virtue of my name I represent a man everyone in the Flotilla admired. I am also seen as young and 'uncorrupted' by Flotilla politics. Perhaps they even think that I'll be malleable to their own political views and thus add my vote to their own maneuvers."

Shepard smirked. "They obviously don't know you very well."

Tali chuckled. "I didn't want the position at first… but now I don't know. The seat needs to be filled—even if only for appearances' sake. The average quarian doesn't like to see a hole in the workings of our government. If I had to, I could fill in while a suitable replacement was found—maybe even try to do some good while I'm there."

"Well, if you need an official endorsement from the man who defeated Saren—"

"'I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite quarian on the Flotilla'? No thanks."

Shepard laughed and stood up. "Well, if you can find out anything about Xen maybe hacking –"

"Commander Shepard?" EDI's voice rang through the armory.

"What is it?"

"I have completed my self-diagnostic and located the source of the hack. It was neither the STG, the geth, nor the quarians."

Shepard scowled at the ceiling. "Then who?"

"The hanar."